An investigation of ESD protection diode options in SOI

In this article, three SOI ESD diodes were investigated. The standard PB ESD diode with floating polysilicon was found to perform equivalently to the cathode connected version and has similar capacitance. However, the floating version is the preferred solution since the concern of oxide breakdown during an ESD discharge is reduced. The alternative diode formed with the silicide blocking masks warrants further investigation since it has advantages of 20% lower capacitance and the elimination of oxide breakdown issues.